Overnight lane closures necessary for traffic shift

(Trenton) - New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) officials today announced the start of the Route 15 Bridge over Main Street replacement project in Sparta, Sussex County.
The existing Route 15 Bridges are in poor condition, requiring deck and superstructure replacement. The project is designed to advance in stages to minimize disruption to residents. Both bridges will be worked on simultaneously, with construction taking place on half of each bridge at a time. At least one lane of traffic in each direction will be maintained during construction.

Beginning at 9 p.m. Friday, August 9, NJDOT’s contractor, Sparwick Contracting, will close two lanes on the southbound bridge and shift traffic to the right to create a work zone in the left shoulder. One lane of through traffic will be maintained overnight while the shift is taking place. By 6 a.m., Saturday, August 10, there will be two lanes of through traffic on the right side of the southbound roadway, and the yield sign at the end of the ramp from CR 517 onto Route 15 southbound will be replaced with a stop sign.

This initial stage of the $4.1 million federally-funded project is anticipated to take approximately one month. Following this stage, the contractor will shift traffic back to the left side of the southbound bridge to facilitate construction on the right side of the roadway, and traffic on the northbound bridge will be shifted to the right to facilitate construction on the closed portion of that side of the roadway. The entire replacement project is expected to be complete by fall 2020.

The precise timing of the work is subject to change due to weather or other factors. Motorists are encouraged to check NJDOT's traffic information website www.511nj.org for real-time travel information and for NJDOT news follow us on Twitter @NJDOT_info or on the NJDOT Facebook page.

Please note, the NJDOT Communications Office has a new phone number – 609-963-1975.